"Each day be conscious of your duty to be a saint. A saint! And that doesn't mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end.”
(Saint Josemaría)

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Opus Dei and the dioceses

At the institutional level, what is Opus Dei’s relationship with the dioceses? Is its pastoral work carried out in accord with religious institutions and other ecclesial entities?

Personal prelature11/27/2007

The life of the prelature is inserted, as a living part, within each diocese. Therefore the prelature is in constant contact with the diocese and its bishop. In addition, the intervention of the bishop is juridically required for the work of the prelature to begin in a diocese or to open new centers. The prelature always gives great importance to working in full harmony with the life of the diocese and with the bishop’s pastoral goals.

The prelature of Opus Dei is in communion with all of the ecclesial groups present in the diocese. Within the legitimate ecclesial autonomy of each of these groups, the life of the diocese to which all belong often offers opportunities for mutual contacts and assistance. I want to stress that Opus Dei does not constitute a separate group within the diocese and that it is not, nor does it act like, an association, and that therefore its members can freely participate in associations of the faithful of a secular nature.